It’s that time of year again and we’re not talking about football. Tonight the world will tune in to watch the 2012 State of the Union Address. Many of us will stay glued to our televisions or computers to both watch the address and be among the first joining in conversations following it. There’s no doubt that Twitter and Facebook will be “blowing up” with status updates and trending conversations.

Google+ may not see the same amount of interaction this evening as its competitors Facebook and Twitter, but it will be making a grand entrance next Monday (Jan. 30th).President Obama has announced he will be participating in a live, 45-minute video chat—or “hang out”—on Google+ next Monday to discuss his address and answer questions from the public. We’ve seen more attempts in recent years from the White House to stay current in the social media realm through Facebook town halls and now the White House is bringing it to Google+. Real conversations happening between the public and the president with no intermediary, how’s that for progress?

We’re looking forward to tuning in for this White House “first” and anxiously await the announcement of what else the White House has in store for us next week during their self-proclaimed “week of social media engagement”.